How to handle Muslim sensitivities is one of Europe’s most prickly issues. Islam is Europe’s fastest-growing religion, with immigrants from Muslim lands often rejecting a drift toward secularism in what used to be known as Christendom. About 6% of Holland’s 16.3 million people are Muslims, and nearly half of Amsterdam’s population is of foreign origin. Some predict the city could have a Muslim majority within a decade or so.

The contrasting Danish and Dutch responses “show that there is a serious struggle of ideas going on for the future of Europe,” says Flemming Rose, a Danish newspaper editor who commissioned the drawings of Muhammad in Jyllands-Posten. At stake, he says, is whether democracy protects the right to offend or embraces religious taboos so that “citizens have a right not to be offended.”

Quoted from CNN, she said:

“I was like, OK, is that a monkey or a boy?” McGinty said. “To me it was an insult.”

She’d never heard of “Memin Pinguin.” She bought a Spanish-English dictionary and tried translating but still didn’t like what she saw.

“So I asked my boyfriend, does that look like a monkey to you?” she said. “And we went back and forth and he was like, no, that’s a black woman,” referring to the character’s Aunt Jemima-like mother.

Mexican readers and commentators are perplexed by the reaction.

“They will bring a smile to their face because we’re so fond of that character,” said Javier Salas, a Spanish-language talk show host on Chicago radio station WRTO. “We respect him, we love him. And that’s why it’s so absurd for us to hear complaints from people who don’t know, don’t understand Memin.”

Wal-Mart has since pulled the books from their stores.

Reuters quotes the prosecutor as saying:

“Even though there is information of a connection between the 40-year-old and the planners of the plot to murder Kurt Westergaard, it is not possible to submit sufficient evidence in court that he took part in the planning”,” prosecutor Elsemette Casoe said, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.”

A Father’s Day cartoon drawn by Milt Priggee has garnered a strong reaction from military folks. The cartoon depicts a dead soldier with what may appear a blown off skull and leg, with a note lying next to him with the words, “We love you Dad.”

Reader reactions and Milt’s reactions have been posted on Daryl Cagle’s blog.

One military man wrote: “Sir let me say that I am all about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, but the cartoon [is] very careless…. You could have brought your point across by being just a little more subtle. We will continue to read your cartoon but I feel that we should receive some sort of apology for this particular cartoon.”

Priggee replied: “This cartoon was not drawn to lift any spirits but to show the public how and what military families have to deal with. This cartoon was drawn to make people mad, mad enough to demand some accountability from their elected officials for not supporting our fellow citizens who volunteered to protect our country.

Where are the Editors on this stuff? Do they find the fact that someone they pay to draw cartoons thinks he can mirror his own work and turn it in for the day? You see things like this, you look at the identical and predictable cartoons being drawn every day and editorial cartoonists wonder why we’re getting laid off.

I flipped the one around and made two images…

When overlaid, you can see he didn’t even eyeball it, but traced almost the entire cartoon.

The line art of the two cartoons are shown above in red and blue color.

The original cartoons can be seen by visiting the Delona’s archive and selecting the April 6, 2008 date and the June 10, 2008.

Requests for a response by Sean’s editor have not be answered.

A spokesman for the New Yorker says that Harry’s attempt was not plagiarism but a tribute to Jack.

Harry did it with all good intentions. He thought it was an overt reference, and not an attempt to plagiarize. He thought it was a tribute,” Cassanos said. “To people in the comic world, it’s a recognizable image.

In a related and somewhat ironic story, Harry is again being accused of plagiarism by a New Jersey man named John Rau who claims that a Bliss cartoon that appeared in the April 21st New Yorker is eerily similar to one that has been on his web site since 2006. After making the accusation, the New York Post has since found a cartoon on Rau’s site that is eerily similar to a Bliss cartoon published in the New Yorker in 2003.

After being shown his cartoon along with Bliss’ 2003 New Yorker cartoon, Rau said,

“That’s incredible, Mr. Bliss would certainly be within his rights to say it’s too much of coincidence, but it is a total coincidence.”

Now it’s changed his perspective on “Hollywood Rehab”-gate. “Maybe Mr. Bliss and I are just kindred spirits,” he said.

The father of two, who works in advertising when he’s not posting cartoons for his site, said he’s considering removing the eagle cartoon from the site now.

“It’s a conservative business,” Salem says. “At this time, we may not be able to sell [a 'gay' strip]. I can’t say you can read on the comics page what you see on television. It’s a different art form, a more conservative medium.”

Salem says that gay characters and storylines have Universal Press Syndicate’s full support - but the reality seems to be that only applies when they’re coming from established, lucrative cartoonists like Gary Trudeau and Lynn Johnston, who they’d be absolutely crazy to alienate.

Meanwhile, over at the Washington Post Writers Group, Lago admits, “When I get a strip [for consideration], one of the first things I look at is why might a [daily newspaper] editor turn this down.” A gay character would be a red flag, she says, though, “I wouldn’t reject it out of hand. But would it be funny enough to carry in enough newspapers [to make it financially viable]?”

It’s not the sort of talk that lends itself to creative risk-taking on the part of cartoonists. On the contrary, it’s a subtle form of censorship. And cartoonists are getting the message loud and clear.

“And so the conservatism goes on,” says Luann’s Greg Evans. “For Better Or For Worse is a huge strip with tremendous popularity and power. Most of us tenuously hang onto our meager client list, ever fearful of drops. This tends to drive the boldness from our writing. I hate to admit it, but in the end it simply comes down to paying the bills.”

The end of the story has spoilers regarding upcoming story-lines in For Better or For Worse and 9 Chickweed Lane.

Alice Gast, Leigh University’s president wrote:

The cartoon captioned Map for a Successful St. Patrick’s Day that appeared in the March 18, 2008 Brown and White was offensive and disappointing to me. A cartoon is a form of expression intended for humor or commentary, but it also has the capacity, like other forms of expression, to be deeply offensive when it employs hurtful stereotypes. Stereotypes based on ethnicity, religion, race, gender, sexual preference, or any other personal characteristic are rooted in ignorance and prejudice.

I was encouraged to see that our campus quickly and strongly voiced its collective expectations about the kind of community we want at Lehigh. The Brown and White editorial board rightly responded promptly and apologized to the Lehigh community in its online edition. The student cartoonist has also personally apologized in an open letter in the Brown and White. I believe these apologies are sincere and, while they do not erase the cartoon or the hurt it caused, are steps in the right direction. I applaud the Brown and White for taking responsibility for its actions.

University spokeswoman Y. Sarah Cooke, declined to say whether disciplinary action was taken against the student, citing federal privacy laws.